Placing Bets in Macau

Updated Oct. 30, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

Macau's casinos are all surprisingly seedy and depressing, but take the time to wander around one and you'll soon notice something even stranger: The people betting small stakes are better dressed than the high-rollers. Look some more and it becomes apparent why. The white socks, the fake leather shoes, the men's purses -- all are giveaways that the gamblers flashing big wads of money are uncouth cadres from China, many of them playing with ill-gotten gains. More confirmation of this came earlier this month with a Shenyang court's death sentence for Ma Suixin, the former mayor, who lost $4.8 million of his city's...